(Communicated by the IDF Spokesman)
Today, July 24, 2006, the IDF carried out aerial attacks against an Islamic Jihad facility used for the manufacturing and storage of missiles and ammunition and a Hamas structure used to manufacture Qassam rockets, in Gaza City.
Prior to the attack on the weapon storage facility, in order to ensure the safety of the residents of Gaza city, leaflets addressing the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, were distributed. The leaflets warned the population not to stay in structures used by terrorist organizations for storing weaponry.
Terrorist organizations operate from within the civilian population, cynically exploiting the uninvolved citizens, using them as "human shields", using their homes to store weaponry and launching rockets at Israeli towns from populated areas.
From now on, the IDF intends to attack weapon storage facilities, including those located in houses, and the sites from which rockets are being launched and terror attacks are dispatched, against the citizens of Israel.
The IDF is operating with restraint in order to reduce the risk to the Palestinian population. The operation is aimed at terror organizations, headed by Hamas, at the cells who launch rockets at Israel and the terror infrastructure, that have turned the Gaza Strip in into a terror zone.